GottaCon 2013 Panel Podcast – “Unusual” Fandoms: Bronies

GottaCon is an annual broad-spectrum gaming convention held the first weekend of February at Pearkes Arena in Victoria, British Columbia.

As already mentioned, I was the Special Events Coordinator for GottaCon 2013. Part of my role as Special Events Coordinator was to moderate the discussion panels.

The fifth and final panel was “Unusual” Fandoms: Bronies. It was held on February 3, 2013. Seated on the panel were Nicole Matthews, Tessa Burger, Alison Schuss, Philip Amor, and Ken Atkinson.

The panel outline read: Join us as we discuss an often misunderstood, and largely criticized, aspect of fandom: Bronies. What is a Brony and Pegasister? Why does a cartoon, often seen as something only for little girls, have such a strong fan base among men, with the average age of the male fan at 21-years-old? We will attempt to dispel some of the myths about Bronies, and try to create a conversation about how we, as a geek community, can better support this area of fandom.

Some of the questions asked during the panel were:

What is a Brony and a Pegasister?

What is your attraction to Friendship is Magic?

What are the most common myths you hear about Bronies?

What is the reality of the Brony community?

Ways you wish the overall geek community can better support Bronies.

The panel, including Q&A, is just under 1 hour and 45 minutes. The file size is 95.6 MB. The file type is mp3, 128 kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo.